To produce hydrocarbons (e.g., oil, gas, etc.) from a subterranean formation, wellbores may be drilled that penetrate hydrocarbon-containing portions of the subterranean formation. The portion of the subterranean formation from which hydrocarbons may be produced is commonly referred to as a “production zone.” In some instances, a subterranean formation penetrated by the wellbore may have multiple production zones at various locations along the wellbore.
Generally, after a wellbore has been drilled to a desired depth, completion operations are performed, which may include inserting a liner or casing into the wellbore and, at times, cementing the casing or liner into place. Once the wellbore is completed as desired (lined, cased, open hole, or any other known completion), a stimulation operation may be performed to enhance hydrocarbon production from the wellbore. Examples of some common stimulation operations involve hydraulic fracturing, acidizing, fracture acidizing, and hydrajetting. Hydraulic fracturing, for instance, entails injecting a fluid under pressure into a subterranean formation to generate a network of cracks and fractures, and simultaneously depositing a proppant (e.g., sand, ceramics) in the resulting fractures. The proppant prevents the fractures from closing and enhances the conductivity of the formation, thereby increasing the production of oil and gas from the formation.
A pressure exchanger is sometimes used to increase the pressure of a low-pressure proppant slurry by interacting the low-pressure proppant slurry with a high-pressure clean fluid. However, the clean fluid and the proppant slurry often mix with each other in the pressure exchanger during operation, which reduces the amount of high-pressure proppant slurry that can be output from the pressure exchanger. Further, due to mixing, only a small portion of the stroke length of the channels of the pressure exchanger can be utilized during operation.